Posted in: CBS, NBC, TV | Tagged: paramount plus, peacock, Saved by the Bell, selena gomez, The Good Fight

Selena Gomez Slams The Good Fight, SBTB for Kidney Transplant Jokes

Published Thu, 05 Aug 2021 07:09:10 -0500

Selena Gomez is certainly no stranger to comedy, but when it comes to things that are absolutely off-limits to her and her fans, it's the actress/singer's 2017 kidney transplant. While most of her fans agreed that the jokes made at her expense on shows like Paramount+ The Good Fight and Peacock's Saved by the Bell were out-of-bounds, Gomez took the time to finally weigh in on the controversy via Twitter.

Saved by the Bell: NBCU Apologizes for Selena Gomez Kidney Jokes — L – Selena Gomez. R – The Cast of Saved by the Bell (2020). Images courtesy of BAKOUNINE / Shutterstock.com & Peacock/NBCU

"I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently," Gomez said. "I hope in the next writer's room when one of these tasteless jokes are presented it's called out immediately and doesn't make it on air." She also thanked her fans for their support and provided a link for organ donation. The scene in question in The Good Fight occurs in episode 4 of the show's fifth season, where a TV executive (Wayne Brady) asks Liz (Audra McDonald) to assemble a sensitivity read for one of his comedic stars, and the subsequent group engages in a back-and-forth over which topics are acceptable or unacceptable to include in a comedic set.

I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently. I hope in the next writer's room when one of these tasteless jokes are presented it's called out immediately and doesn't make it on air.

— Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) August 3, 2021

A source close to Paramount+ series told Entertainment Weekly that the reference "is part of a discussion the characters are having about topics that are not okay to make fun of, and the idea of cancel culture being cancelled for telling a bad joke" further explaining that Gomez's transplant wasn't anything to joke about. Peacock removed the joke from the Saved by the Bell sixth episode of the first season "Teen-Line" telling EW, "We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena's health. We have been in touch with her team and will be making a donation to her charity, The Selena Gomez Fund for Lupus Research at USC."

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